Ah Keeper, Keeper
by timunderwood9
Summary: After she kills herself Harry discovers just how far Hermione went to save his life.


Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

Ah keeper, keeper, I have done these things  
>(That now give evidence against my soul)<br>For Edward's Sake

_Richard III_, William Shakespeare

"Sir, we've discovered Hermione Granger committed suicide earlier today".

Part of me wanted to argue - - Hermione would never kill herself, she would never - - I once would have thought she would never isolate herself. Never refuse to talk, never avoid everyone. Never avoid me.

But she had, and after five years this didn't surprise me.

"Does the boss want me to be part of the investigation?"

"There isn't much to investigate. She used an ancient suicide spell designed to completely destroy a wizard's house. The boss thought you might want to pay your respects. And maybe you'll see something we've missed".

The house was completely destroyed. Forensic aurors poked around unenthusiastically.

They wouldn't find anything, Hermione was a perfectionist.

I turned away, I refused to look at where my best friend had ended her own life. Guilty feelings surfaced, and I suppressed them - - there was no way I could have helped her. When someone like Hermione Granger wants to disappear she generally succeeds.

She'd seemed - - off - - when she removed my horcrux. Rather than celebrating she left. I tried to find her, to talk, but Voldemort had besieged Hogwarts, and I was our leader. There wasn't time.

I saw Hermione briefly before the final battle, as we prepared to fight, plans very different now that I might survive. And then during the battle. And then she disappeared and I never saw her again. Never would see her again.

Her land was beautiful, an isolated wooded area. I could feel the residue of my friend's magic, her fading presence. She had been here. Eventually I felt apparition signatures. She'd regularly gone somewhere, she'd gone there this morning.

She'd gone there, came back and killed herself.

It took an hour to reconstruct the coordinates, and when we jumped we found a grave site.

The area was soaked in Hermione's magic. She'd spent a lot of time here. There were flowers, charmed to never decay. A permanent warming charm, keeping both the air and the ground comfortable. As though she didn't want the body to be cold. The notice-me-not charms were the strongest I'd ever seen. A bench faced the grave, I could almost see Hermione sitting there.

The gravestone read "Alicia Carrow 1993-1998".

The fate of the Carrows' daughter was an unimportant mystery from the last weeks of the war. They were death eaters, killed in a raid on their home a few weeks before the end. Their child never found.

I sat on the bench, and watched them dig up a small casket. Then a pop of apparition and I was alone with my memories and the flowers.

AKKAKKAKKAKKAKKAKKAKKAKKAKK

Several days later I was called to the boss' office.

She fiddled with a folder, "Harry, we've finished examining Alicia Carrow's body - - Do you want to see the report?"

I didn't. But it was better than wondering, and I owed it to Hermione. She'd saved my life so many times...

A note on the folder said this was highly classified, the folder would dissolve in 48 hours, and was not to leave my office, needed to be kept in the safe when I wasn't in the room.

In the front were pictures. The stasis charms had kept the body in perfect condition. A pentagram was cut into Alicia's chest, another in her back, a symbol I didn't recognize carved into her hands, her feet and her forehead. Her eyes were wide in death, and she was pale, very pale, all the blood drained out. Still I could tell she had been a cute child (but aren't all children adorable, mine certainly are). Long blond hair, no sign of her parents' evil.

She'd been killed by a ritual which ripped her soul apart - - forensics though part was embedded in an object for future use, similar to a horcrux, but not an anchor. The pain would have been intense, and gone on for more than an hour before Alicia died.

Hermione had done this. That was the almost certain conclusion of forensics. Normally spell residues would be long gone, but this magic left deep, deep scars. It was Hermione's signature, that was certain.

But why?

The Carrows had been killed only two weeks before Voldemort. Forensics could only place Alicia's death as being around then.

I can pinpoint it more precisely though. We learned I was a horcrux a month and a half before the final battle. Pomfrey was convinced it couldn't be removed without killing the host. If we destroyed Voldemort's current body I was going to stab myself with Gryffindor's blade before he could be resurrected.

Hermione didn't give up hope, she swore she wouldn't let me die, she swore she would do _anything_. She neglected her other duties to study soul magic, eating and sleeping in the library. And she found something, but wouldn't tell me, because she "wasn't sure". And she disappeared for a week after the Carrow raid.

When she came back she had the solution. She didn't explain it, but used a diamond to draw out Voldemort's soul. I remember Hermione was very, very off. Not excited despite saving my life.

Now I know why.


End file.
